Will Jakim’s Bon Odori gaffe undo PM’s hard work?

 

From Ibrahim M Ahmad

We are often angered to hear that infamous catchphrase, “Melayu mudah lupa”. Yet, how true it is in the present context.

Lest we forget, it was less than two weeks ago that we welcomed home our prime minister from an official working visit to – where else but – Japan.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on May 28, Ismail Sabri Yaakob proudly announced that Japanese businessmen and investors still regarded Malaysia highly as an investment hub.

Leading Japanese companies had expressed their desire to explore trade opportunities and increase investment, he told reporters, and two were close to setting up manufacturing facilities here.

“(There) is great potential to create employment opportunities for Keluarga Malaysia,” he enthused.

Something to celebrate, surely. What better way to welcome our benefactors than at one of their own cultural celebrations?

In contemporary Japanese society, the Bon Odori is a cultural event, a summer dance festival. It is a fete that Malaysians have had the privilege of experiencing for many years now.

But leave it to one of Ismail’s very own Cabinet members – a minister in his very own department, a trusted member of coalition partner PAS, the self-proclaimed champion of the Islamic faith – to score an own goal against Team Malaysia.

On June 6, a mere nine days after Ismail’s press conference, religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad warned Muslims not to participate in the festival.

Apparently, studies conducted by Jakim revealed elements which were inconsistent with Islam. Suffice it to say that His Highness the Sultan of Selangor promptly disagreed.

How a member of Ismail’s own cabinet can put out such a damaging statement without consulting the PM beggars belief.

Should the matter not have been discussed at Cabinet first? Was there not a memo he ought to have written to the PM? An email he ought to have sent? A text message he should have cobbled together? A conversation he could have had?

Four days on, Ismail has yet to address the matter publicly. He must.

We are quick to jump when we are even slightly offended, but we are also much too slow to react when we offend others.

The Japanese have every right to take offence. Make no mistake, this was a gaffe of huge proportions – an undiplomatic and unwelcoming stance.

Left uncorrected, it risks us losing a huge investment boost by our fourth biggest trading partner at a time when we need it most. What a waste of all the PM’s hard work.

Ministers must be held accountable for their actions, and Idris ought to be admonished and be made to publicly apologise.

We must hold fast to our faith, but we cannot be so presumptuous as to think that we can invoke it to belittle others or act ungraciously.

Neither should we be biting the hand that offers to feed us. - FMT

Ibrahim M Ahmad is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.